For Now, Deezer.com is The Hot New Music Site

Formerly known as Blogmusik, Deezer is the hot new music site of the moment. What's great about it? No fees, no registration -- not even a free username and password -- and instant, one-click access to songs that are...

Formerly known as Blogmusik, Deezer is the hot new music site of the moment. What's great about it? No fees, no registration -- not even a free username and password -- and instant, one-click access to songs that are playable from a Web browser, including playlists. No Rhapsody player here.

The site was created in France in June 2006 by Daniel Marhely and Jonathan Benassaya. Is it legal? That's where it gets a tad murky.

According to the site, Deezer has received permission from SACEM, the French version of the RIAA. That theoretically means that French listeners might have legal access to listen to the music. But Vivendi has condemned the new site as one offering illegally copied versions of its own music, among others. As "dacem," a Deezer.com admin notes: "SACEM is one thing, but disc majors are another one."

Deezer.com is already in talks with major music labels and the SPPF3, and will soon be announcing that new agreements have been reached, the site's admins say.

Should you use it? I don't see why not. The company says that it's using advertising revenues to compensate the artists. Deezer isn't hiding, nor is it obfuscating what it does. If it's ruled illegal, the lawyers will shut it down. Supposedly there's a hack to actually download the music, however -- this, however, I definitely wouldn't do.

My guess? In a few days the site will be blocked to all but French IP addresses, while the lawyers sort out whether it's actually legal for French users to access.

I don't have esoteric music tastes, and the site pulled up a pretty comprehensive catalog of singles of U2, Weezer, The Eagles, Daft Punk, Mark Knopfler, plus some older artists, like The Dream Academy (Ferris Bueller's Day Off soundtrack) and The Art of Noise. Deezer had all of them, except for Dream Academy, and just nine tracks from Art of Noise.

One criticism: one of the personal tests I use to determine whether a site is up to snuff is how it plays U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me..." (from Batman Forever). Tracks I've heard on the Web from the Batman and corresponding U2 album seem to contain audio artifacts, while the remastered song on the The Best Of 1990-2000 album seems to eliminate these. Rhapsody simply offers the most recent, superior version; Deezer offers both. It's a minor irritant.